Gas turbine engines operate to produce mechanical work or thrust. Specifically, land-based gas turbine engines typically have a generator coupled thereto for the purposes of generating electricity. The shaft of the gas turbine engine is coupled to the generator. Mechanical energy of the shaft is used to drive a generator to supply electricity to at least a power grid. The generator is in communication with one or more elements of a power grid through a main breaker. When the main breaker is closed, electrical current can flow from the generator to the power grid when there is a demand for the electricity. The drawing of electrical current from the generator causes a load to be applied to the gas turbine. This load is essentially a resistance applied to the generator that the gas turbine must overcome to maintain an electrical output of the generator.
Increasingly, a control system is used to regulate the operation of the gas turbine engine. In operation, the control system receives a plurality of signals that communicate the current operating conditions of the gas turbine engine such as, for example, pressures, temperatures, fuel-flow rates, and engine frequencies, among others. In response, the control system makes adjustments to the inputs of the gas turbine engine—that is, auto-tunes the gas turbine engine—to maintain the desired performance.
Often, however, these signals may be relatively noisy. For example, in some applications noise levels may be upwards of 50% of the average underlying trace signal, limiting the value of such signals for effectively auto-tuning a gas turbine engine. This leads to a control system making less-than-ideal adjustments or even adjustments that decrease the performance of the gas turbine engine. It would thus be beneficial to reduce the noise associated with these signals, resulting in improved auto-tuning of a gas turbine engine.